BY RYAN WELLICOME
Lacombe Express
The Lacombe and District Chamber of Commerce announced the nominees of its annual Business and Community Awards late last week.
This year’s awards include Small and Large Business of the Year categories, People’s Choice for Customer Service, Not for Profit of the Year and Farm Family of the Year.
The Chamber is also awarding a Lifetime Achievement Award and a Citizen of the Year award.
Chamber Executive Director Monica Bartman believes that the awards are an important part of recognizing the community at large.
“It’s a chance to recognize some of the businesses and people in our community that are really doing things well, that are excelling, that are growing and that are giving back to the community,” she said. “They are important to acknowledge and celebrate.”
The small business category is the largest nomination category of the awards with 13 nominees vying for the award.
The Small Business of the Year award nominees are Colbray Homes, Blindman Brewing, Detailed Designs @Lacombe Hardware, Down Home Builders, Healing Balance Massage, Jitter Beanz, Lacombe Fit Body Boot Camp, Lacombe Storage, Morrison House Café, Rangeland Meatshop, Ruff ‘N’ Tumble Daycare & Boarding Kennels, Soapy’s Car Wash and Speedy Auto Glass.
The nominees for this year’s Large Business of The Year award are Nowco Home Hardware, Dancer’s Edge Studio and Kraay Family Farm whose corn maze is well-known in the region.
Winners of last year’s Small and Large Business of the Year awards, were Elite Bridal Boutique and Lacombe Dental, respectively.
Nominees from both business categories are selected based on scores in a number of different categories such as the business’s growth, its history, its involvement within the community – hands on or charitable donations – and whether or not they purchase and employ locally.
Not all categories hold the same weight in the decision process but they are all considered nevertheless.
The recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award is Mildred Snow and the recipient of the Citizen of the Year award is Corey Gish.
This year’s nominees for Farm Family of the Year are Ken and Linda Landmark of Landmark Feeders and Murray, Annette, Stuart and Kelsie Wiersma of Granite Lane Farms Ltd.
2015’s recipients of the Farm Family of the Year award were Peter and Emma DenOudsten and their family of Peony Farms.
The nominee for this year’s award for Not For Profit of the Year is Mother Goose Playschool.
The People’s Choice for Customer Service Award was a new addition to the award lineup in 2015 and is back again this year.
The award is given to a small business in the City that is nominated by the public through an online submission process on the Chamber of Commerce’s web site.
The Chamber then picks the businesses with the most nominations to become potential award recipients.
The nominees are then posted on the Chamber’s web site – www.lacombechamber.ca – and the public is encouraged to cast their vote for the winner online.
The voting for the People’s Choice for Customer Service Award will commence on Aug. 18th and will end on Sept. 15th.
Following the voting process, the top three nominees will be announced and the winner will be announced at the awards gala.
The Business and Community Awards Gala will be held on Saturday, Oct. 22nd at the Lacombe Memorial Centre.
More information regarding ticket pricing and purchasing can be found at the Lacombe and District Chamber of Commerce office or online at www.lacombechamber.ca.
news@lacombeexpress.com